People in poverty often live on the edge of a cliff. One misstep can set off a chain of events that makes it hard to stop the downward slide, much less better their lives.
A prime example in the City of Rochester involves transportation and fines. Many residents can’t afford to pay their traffic fines, which means the fees grow and people fall further and further behind. Their vehicles may get booted, and they could lose their licenses, too.
Part of the issue is the lack of flexibility in City Court, officials say.
“City Court, by state law, doesn’t have the option of reducing the surcharge or giving a payment plan,” says Carla Palumbo, CEO of the Legal Aid Society. “The town courts can. City courts don’t have the power to do that.”
Earlier this year, Mayor Lovely Warren announced that she wanted to create a city-operated traffic violations agency that would have the power to work out payment plans or let residents enter plea bargains on traffic tickets.
The city needs state legislation to create the agency, however, and the proposal didn’t pass during the Legislature’s last session. The Assembly approved it, but it never got a vote in the Senate.
City spokesperson Patrick Flanigan says he’s not sure if the proposal will be reintroduced in the next session, which starts in January. But Warren is committed to giving city residents the same options that residents of towns and villages have, he says.
“The specific game plan is yet to be determined,” he says.
One area where a city-operated traffic agency would help is with residents charged with driving without a license, Palumbo says. She’s worked on this issue before.
Some people can’t pay the fines, but they keep driving because their job and their well-being depend on it, she says. But eventually they could face a felony, she says.
“It all stems from, yes, they drove without having their license, but they lost their license because they couldn’t pay their fine,” Palumbo says. “It creates a debtors’ jail, essentially. People that can’t pay this stuff ending up in jail because life moves on and they’ve still got to do what they have to do for their families.”
Aggravated unlicensed operation of vehicles is a significant problem in Rochester, with 1,310 tickets issued in 2015 and 913 through September 21 of this year, according to the police department.
Another option besides the traffic agency would be to change state law to give City Court more flexibility when it comes to traffic fines, Palumbo says.
She says she understands that some people will say that the government doesn’t need to do anything; that the drivers deserve what they get for driving without a license.
“Yes, except for if they then lose their license and can’t work, and they lose their job, and then they go on public assistance, doesn’t that cost the community more?” she says.
This article appears in Oct 12-18, 2016.
Or people can just obey traffic laws.
Tom, quit with the logic!!!!
Do mostly suburbanites get red light tickets? What is the breakdown in dollars paid by city residents and others? Are all fines going to be based on ability to pay? A very confusing and possibly unconstitutional solution. Should red light cameras be removed?
I don’t understand this, I have not received a ticket in about 8 years but when I did they give you time to pay the fine. Also if you explain that you will not have the money for another week or so they work with you. They worked with me. I was about 22 at the time so I did not have a lot of extra money on hand to pay immediately. If you ignore the court completely then of course they don’t work with you.
C.S Smith,
I think you just articulated the Mayors vision ,just she wants a standard system in place
“She(Carla Palumbo) says she understands that some people will say that the government doesn’t need to do anything; that the drivers deserve what they get for driving without a license.
“Yes, except for if they then lose their license and can’t work, and they lose their job, and then they go on public assistance, doesn’t that cost the community more?” she says.”
Well can’t they just walk to work? After all, businesses should be flocking to the city, what with raising the minimum wage and producing the scholars from RCSD there should be tons more jobs. Add in the thousands of unlicensed (uninsured) traffic violators and you have a perfect Chamber of Commerce campaign.
One reason, and it’s really shameful, that New York State doesn’t want to change this philosophy of snowballing traffic fines is that they like the easy money. It seems that some of our state representatives are borrowing from the same playbook on fines that the banks have been using for years.
It’s one thing for companies and individuals to exploit the poor. But, our own government!? There reaches a point, and with the many thousands of people in Rochester driving without a license for reasons that are purely financial, that something needs to be done.
“It’s one thing for companies and individuals to exploit the poor. But, our own government!? There reaches a point, …., that something needs to be done. “
Mike, we’re way past the time when government served the people. We’re the servants now, at least those of us who pay taxes.
Something needs to be done–Nov 8th
PLEASE be an informed voter.
How about going back to step one with the traffic court issue. Are readers aware that the traffic court, a government entity bound by federal ADA law, refuses to provide mandatory access and accommodation for certain disabled citizens who wish to dispute a ticket? “We don’t do that” is not an acceptable answer for an accommodation request. What does the department do instead? Send the citizen to a collection agency which says that it is collecting on a judgment. There has to be a hearing in order for there to be a judgment. And the traffic court refuses for months to provide a hearing. Talk about snowballing fines – only in a case like this there was never a valid reason to assess a fine. Remember – Rochester is rated 147th of 150 worst cities nationally for people with disabilities. No wonder.